Thanks to the great folks on the Conan digital team I was able to score a last second pass and mini-tour to the taping of their final show of the Atlanta excursion. It was an unseasonably cold and wet April day in Georgia’s capital. Thankfully I was in a former establishment of worship to watch a comedy show. The Tabernacle is a beautiful and storied venue. If you ever have a chance to catch any sort of show there, do it.

A few notes before I get into my clip-by-clip synopsis:

It’s really kind of amazing the manpower that goes into pulling off a late night variety show. I was of the belief that espresso machine guy handled like 75% of the duties, but it turns out there are A LOT of people behind the scenes. The place was a well-oiled machine even two thousand miles from home.

The earliest someone got their to camp out for tickets was 4AM. That’s some mindless dedication.

Jimmy Pardo is a warm up guy after my own heart. Not at all scared to take shots at the audience while deriding himself for any jokes that didn’t land.

I simply could not believe how excited people were to see Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis. I guess there really is something to this YouTube thing.

My version of Atlanta (I’ve been here about a decade) isn’t really at all southern, so I always feel a bit odd about the city I live in receiving such treatment on a national level. Not really a complaint, just something that is perpetually lingering in the back of my mind as the show went on.

No photos were allowed during filming, so I’m just going to follow up each of the clips with some of my thoughts and then some (amateur-ish) photos on the last page.

The Monologue

I’ve attended a few late night showings in my day (Letterman, mostly), and there is something surreal yet cool about having one of your late night heroes monologue only most exclusively about where you live. The Clermont Lounge joke in particular is seriously inside-ATL and I enjoyed it a little too much. I would love to have a breakdown of all the places Conan and Andy ate during their stay.

The chop is the worst.

Conan Kills General Sherman

Dude next to me would have definitely still taken a bite. The armrest was his for the entire evening.

Conan Enrolls In Southern Charm School

I’ve been a Conan geek since I was a teenager and it was his on location improv bits like this that initially won me over and always had me coming back. This whole thing is just classic Coco.

Speaking of classic Conan, he’s long been regarded as one of the genuinely nicest guys in show business. In between segments is where this shines brightest. He’s waving and goofing with the crowd, engaging his crew, cutting up with Andy, and just randomly jumping up and down to the music to let the band know he appreciates it.

I expected no less, but it was still nice to witness in person. Some lady even stormed the stage to give him a t-shirt (not sure what it said) and he seemed genuinely touched by the gesture, even waving her back so he could get more info. Hero.

I went to New York for the first time in 2011 and made plans to go the same week Conan was there. I didn’t get tickets when I requested them from the website, so I showed up early for standby tickets. After waiting hours for a bracelet, I came later in the day and waited a couple more hours only to be turned away. I was #38 in line and they only let 20 people from standby in. What really stung was when I tuned in that night and saw a row of empty seats in the opening audience shot.